Primer for Tsarevich. The Presidential Library marking Knowledge Day

On the eve of September 1, the traditional Knowledge Day, the Presidential Library provides opportunity to “look through” one of the first Russian textbooks, a digitized book rarity of the late 17th century - the illustrated Primer of Karion Istomin.

The history of the Primer by Karion Istomin (it is also called the Front Primer, that is, the primer with pictures) began in 1692-1693, when the hieromonk of the Moscow Chudov Monastery, writer and court poet Karion Istomin created two handwritten primers filled with colors and gold for teaching the royal children, in particular, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, Peter I’s son. In 1694, the Armory engraver Leonty Bunin carved the Primer on copper sheets, and the edition was issued in a small edition.

Karion Istomin's primer at that time had no analogues: it served not only as a tool for mastering literacy, but also became the first Russian illustrated publication for children, where text and drawing are organically combined, while drawing carries a cognitive load. In a kind of preface to the Primer, Istomin himself explains: “Under every letter, for the sake of kind contemplation, the pupils are offered views for a more convenient title in the warehouse”.

This unique book has a separate page for each letter. Above is an image of a letter, composed in the form of people standing in different poses. Then there is a series of reproductions of this letter - engraved initials, printed upper and lower case, as well as handwritten. Moreover, these are not only Russian letters, but also Latin and Greek letters.

Below the letters are engraved images of a variety of animate and inanimate objects, the names of which begin with this letter or contain it. For example, on the page with the letter "B" there are the following pictures: wind, warrior, grapes, gates, crown, bucket, chains, branch, pitchfork and oar, and on the letter "Y" - vlas, tyn, otter, scales, clock and wing.

At the bottom of the page there are poems in which most of the words contain the "main" letter, they are designed to facilitate its memorization.

On the pages of Istomin’s Primer, the reader will find a lot of interesting things for himself, just looking at the skillfully executed drawings. They give a fairly broad idea of ​​how and how people lived at the end of the 17th century. Among the images are household items, tools, objects for worship, weather events, crafts, animals, birds, plants, etc.

On the pages of the Primer one can also see mysterious creatures: the bird Gamayun, hippocentaur, echidna, etc.

Some images may confuse the reader: what is it? The signature explains that this is a beard, this is a scale, and this is a ground beetle.

If the meaning of some words can still be guessed from the image, for example, a hedgehog is a fishing tackle, a babr is a tiger, a hort is a wolf, etc., then other words, like the objects they denote, have sunk into oblivion, and it is difficult for a modern person identify them.

After the leaves of the alphabet in the Primer comes a sheet in an engraved frame with prayers and the signature at the bottom: "This primer was written by Ieromonk Karion / Aznamenil cut by Leonty Bunin, 1694".

The Presidential Library’s portal features other rare editions intended for education. For example, a digital copy of the Civil Alphabet with Moralities revised by Peter the Great. In pursuit of the great goal of creating a new educated stratum in Russia, the reformer tsar made changes to the alphabet, in particular, reduced the number of letters and approved a new "civil" font.

Textbooks on the Russian language are presented in one of the basic collections of the Presidential Library Russian Language in the section Textbooks on the Russian language, which contains textbooks of various types and levels.

The extensive collection of Educational publications on history includes not only textbooks, ranging from pre-revolutionary to modern editions, but also anthologies, visual aids, atlases and books for children.

A separate selection also includes little-known educational publications on geography, which provide the process of developing the territories of our country, the political and socio-economic trends in the state.